Shoe donner staff

ABSTRACT

The invention enables a mobility-challenged user to don shoes on the floor, already adequately tied for the day, whether the user is seated or standing and without having to reach down to them. A staff has two sidearms reaching over the shoe opening with a heel guide on the rear one and tongue grab on the forward one. The guide and grab, close together at rest, are inserted down into the shoe opening. Pressing down on the staff then forces the sidearms longitudinally apart, pushing guide and grab which stretches the shoe opening lengthwise to ease foot entry, while a slippery flap hanging from the tongue grab moves under the tongue to reduce resistance to the forward sliding of the bridge of the foot. The foot heel pressed down on the heel guide pushes forward on the heel guide&#39;s downward sloping ramp and then slides down a shoehorn-like lower part of the heel guide, and the shoe is donned. Lifting the staff easily pulls guide, grab and flap out of the shoe. The “donner stick” is light and compact for travel.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to assisting mobility-challenged people in clothing themselves.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The aging population presents a growing problem of assisting more and more millions of people in such everyday tasks as putting on shoes. That job is especially troublesome for all who can no longer reach down to floor level, including the disabled in general and the wheelchair-bound in particular.

Devising shoe donning aids has proven difficult. The shoehorn was first mentioned in England in the 1400s, and new shoe donner art has mainly featured extensions of the shoehorn idea. In US patent application 2002/0008124, Runge teaches a foot guide of slippery, flexible material which fits over the back of the shoe and down and forward into the shoe to form an internal “chute”. Johann Leitner, EP 1496766, 2003, aims to achieve that effect for boots, building in more rigidity and heel guidance to the shoehorn portion. At least one product (patent not found—product described in http://ketteringsurgical.co.uk/shop/-rehabilitation/dressing-aids/brace-and-shoe-donner-18329.htm.) uses a box-like platform to hold the shoe steady, again with a shoehorn-like guide at the heel. The use of these and other shoe donner aids, like their shoehorn antecedents, presumes that the shoe is untied and the tongue pulled up out of the way to facilitate foot entry; the shoe then has to be tied, generally requiring bending down to reach floor level.

Eliminating these main drawbacks, Katz and Platts (U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/496,122, Apr. 25, 2017) show a two-shoe donner apparatus featuring a tiltable “rocker box” that holds the shoes tilted upward at the toe to ease the user's task in inserting a foot, then tilts downward to ease entry as the foot is pushed foward by a heel driver on the box. A claw-like shoe tongue lifter has enlarged the opening of the to help achieve donning even if the shoe is already tied; the user need not reach down to the floor. Other cords or a hook-ended stick are then used to remove the shoehorn-like and tongue lifter devices out of the shoes, and the shod foot is lifted out. This apparatus works but has drawbacks: The user has to prepare all in advance of donning, first lifting the apparatus onto a bed or chair (using its cord(s) or hooked stick) to enable setting the shoes, clamping, attaching tongue lifters etc., then lowering it back onto the floor to await donning. This preparation alone is somewhat tedious and calls for the one apparatus to be a two-shoe donner so the setup can all be done in advance, say the night before—and that two-shoe capacity almost doubles bulk and weight, further reducing portability for travel. Further, the removal of clamps, shoehorns and tongue lifters can be tedious and require hand control.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, there is a need for an improved shoe donner apparatus to enable a user to don a shoe even if seated, is unable to reach down to the shoe, and generally even if the shoe is already fastened adequately for wearing, and without requiring that the shoe be set up in the shoe donner in advance; and preferably an apparatus that can accompany the user on travels. These objectives are achieved by the present invention, a shoe donner staff apparatus, which for clarity is now described as if positioned beside a shoe on a floor. The invention comprises: a staff of such length that a seated or standing user can readily grasp its upper part while its base is on the floor, the staff including a tubular sleeve slidingly enclosing its upper portion; a first arm having a shoulder-like end rigidly attached to the staff, from where it extends sideways farther than shoe width and just above shoe heel height; a heel guide rigidly attached to the free end of the first arm, the heel guide having a top portion slanting downward and forward to shoe heel height and then down to form a shoehorn-like bottom portion; a lengthwise track rigidly attached to the staff just above the first arm and positioned at right angles to the first arm, the track extending forward and upward to a length greater than the shoe and a height above shoe tongue height; a second arm having a shoulder-like end slidingly mounted on the track so that the second arm extends sideways at right angles to the track, ahead of and parallel to the the first arm and of similar length; a claw-like tongue grab, C-shaped in side elevation, having a lower rear portion shaped to reach down and then forward inside the shoe to a point well under the exposed end of the shoe's tongue, while the upper portion of the tongue grab is formed to reach forward over the top of the shoe tongue to attachment to the outer portion of the second arm; a flexible, slippery flap hingedly attached to the lower part of the tongue grab whereby the slippery flap can hang loosely down inside the shoe; a driver strut having its upper end hingedly attached near the low end of the tubular sleeve and its bottom end hingedly attached atop the shoulder of the second arm.

A spring or elastic cord is preferably affixed to pull the tubular sleeve upward on the staff, pulling the driver strut upward and thereby pulling the second arm to its closest proximity to the first arm, bringing the heel guide and tongue grab close together so that the user can insert them into the shoe opening, returning the staff bottom to the floor alongside the shoe; whereupon pressing downward on the tubular sleeve drives the bottom of the driver strut and thereby the tongue grab forward, forcing the shoe tongue forward and upward while the heel guide holds the shoe heel back and the shoe opening is lengthened, enabling the user to insert foot toe area well into the shoe and press foot heel area down on the upper part of the heel guide, the foot heel sliding forward and down along the heel guide while the toe and bridge of the foot slides forward, pushing under the slippery flap which flips forward under the shoe tongue to ease the foot slipping completely forward while its heel sinks into place, and the shoe is donned. Pulling up on the staff readily pulls heel guide, tongue grab and flap out of the shoe and away from the foot.

These and other details and usage aspects of the invention will be better understood with reference to the drawings and detailed description that follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the shoe donner staff.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view.

FIGS. 3 and 4 are perspective sketches looking down on the shoe donner staff.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, best viewed together, show the essentials of our handmade “shoe donner staff” test piece. It's most readily described as if alongside a shoe, facing right, with heel end at left. A staff 1 supports a heel guide 2 by means of a crossarm 3, which is rigidly attached to the staff just above shoe height. (While not illustrated, the staff preferably stands about 70 cm. high to allow portability—fitting into luggage—while still readily usable from a sitting or standing position. If a higher staff is desirable it can be made foldable for travel.) The crossarm 3 reaches crosswise the width of the shoe; this is better shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The heel guide 2 has a top portion slanting downward and forward as seen in FIG. 2, and a bottom portion ready to reach well down into the shoe heel. A lengthwise arm 4 is rigidly attached to the staff 1 and extends forward to about shoe length. A second crossarm 5 is slidingly mounted on the lengthwise arm 4 by means of a sleeve-like mounting 5 a (not fully shown) that wraps loosely around the lengthwise track 4, enabling the crossarm 5 to slide lengthwise along the track 4 while adequately maintaining its right-angle orientation across the width of the shoe. A claw-like tongue grab 6 is hingedly attached at 6 a to the far end of the crossarm 5 and extends back toward the heel, curling downward and then forward as shown in FIG. 2, to be positionable under the tongue within the shoe. A flexible and slippery under-tongue flap 7 hangs down from the tongue grab. A tubular sleeve 1 a is mounted over the staff 1, with a spring or elastic cord (not shown) holding the tubular sleeve up from the floor. The lower end of the sleeve 1 a is attached to a driver strut 8 through a hinge 8 a; the other end of driver strut 8 is attached through a hinge 8 b to the crossarm 5. The sleeve 1 a, in its normal position as shown in FIG. 2, has pulled the driver strut 8 upward and therewith pulled the tongue grab 6 and under-tongue flap 7 back close to the heel guide 2, so that both heel guide 2 and tongue grab 6 with its under-tongue flap 7 can be placed within the shoe opening simply by lifting the staff 1 and maneuvering its lower end close to the shoe and back down on the floor. The shoe can now be made ready for donning—even though already adequately tied.

In FIG. 3, the heel guide 2 and the tongue grab 6 are shown placed within the shoe S, the user having inserted them with the staff 1 which accordingly rests at the ready beside the shoe S. (An actual shadow of the strut 8 is sketched here, SS, to help make it clear in this perspective view that the strut 8 is in its most upright position, pulling the tongue grab 6 close to the heel guide 2 to enable their insertion.) The under-tongue flap 7 simply hangs down into the shoe S. The shoe donner staff is ready to do its job.

FIG. 4 shows the first job done: The user has pushed down the sleeve 1 a; that has pushed down the hinge 8 a to force the strut 8 to push the crossarm 5 forward, therewith forcing the tongue grab 6 forward and upward to substantially lengthen the opening in the shoe S. (Both the heel guide 2 and tongue grab 6 are wide enough to prevent too much narrowing of the shoe opening as it is lengthened.) Now the user can insert toe into the longer opening and under the shoe's tongue, which action also pushes the under-tongue flap 7 ahead where it lies between foot and tongue. The user presses foot heel downward on the forward-sloping upper part of the heel guide 2, driving the foot forward, the top of foot instep slipping easily under the under-tongue flap 7, until the heel slides straight down along the lower part of the heel guide and the shoe is fully shod ready for the day—already tied adequately, not too tightly.

Various changes and modifications may be made to the embodiments described without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention defined in the appended claims. Testing has already taught simple method and equipment pointers: Users may need to have the shoe steadied on the floor, say by pushing its toe forward or heel back into a “ferry dock” formed by small blocks suction-cupped to the floor. Following insertion and activation of heel guide 2 and tongue grab 6 to enlarge the shoe opening, tilting the staff 1 backward slants the shoe upward at the toe, making it easier to place foot in opening. (A “rocker box” akin to that mentioned above—Katz and Platts pat. app.—could help in steadying and tilting; it would preferably be just a third length, single shoe, portable.) The staff 1 can be operated by left or right hand, for either shoe. As was also noted in the above pat. app., a wall mirror down to the floor can crucially help guide a seated user. Those with poor leg control can use forearm on knee to help press the foot down. While not shown, rather than having a range of sizes of this shoe donner staff to suit small to large shoes, preferably just two or three models could be made to fit practically all, each model featuring more than one hinge point 8 a, fixable above each other on the staff sleeve 1 a, the driver strut 8 preferably being telescopingly adjustable as well, so that each model is suitable for a range of shoe openings. While simplicity and manufacturability favours the strut 8 mechanism, it could be replaced with a belt or chain drive. The shoe donner staff can also be used to move a shoe, just pushing it or, if needed, picking it up—first inserting heel guide and tongue grab, forcing them apart as usual and preferably having a lock on the staff to hold them apart while lifting it. 

We claim:
 1. An apparatus for enabling a user to don a shoe even if unable to reach down to the shoe and the shoe is already adequately fastened for wearing, and with no need to set up shoe in apparatus in advance, the apparatus comprising: a staff of such length that a seated or standing user can readily grasp its upper part while its base is on the floor, the staff including a tubular sleeve slidingly enclosing its upper portion; a first arm having a shoulder-like end rigidly attached to the staff from where the arm extends sideways farther than shoe width and just above shoe heel height from the floor; a heel guide rigidly attached to the free end of the first arm, the heel guide having a top portion slanting downward and forward to shoe heel height and then down to form a shoehorn-like bottom portion; a track rigidly attached to the staff just above the first arm and positioned at right angles to the first arm, the track extending forward and preferably upward farther ahead than the shoe toe and to an elevation above shoe tongue height; a second arm having a shoulder-like end slidingly mounted on the track so that the second arm extends sideways at right angles to the track, parallel to the first arm and of similar length; a claw-like tongue grab, C-shaped in side elevation, having a lower rear portion shaped to reach down and then forward inside the shoe to a point well under the exposed end of the shoe's tongue, while the upper portion of the tongue grab is formed to reach forward over the top of the shoe tongue to hinged attachment to the outer portion of the second arm; a flexible, slippery flap hingedly attached to the lower part of the tongue grab whereby the flap can hang loosely down inside the shoe; a driver strut having its upper end hingedly attached near the low end of the tubular sleeve and its bottom end hingedly attached atop the shoulder of the second arm; preferably a spring or elastic cord affixed to pull the tubular sleeve upward on the staff, pulling the driver strut upward and therewith pulling the second arm to its closest proximity to the first arm, bringing the heel guide and tongue grab close together so that the user can insert them into the shoe opening, returning the staff bottom to the floor alongside the shoe; whereupon pressing downward on the tubular sleeve drives the bottom of the driver strut forward and thereby the tongue grab forward, the tongue grab forcing the exposed end of shoe tongue forward and upward while the heel guide holds the shoe heel back so that the shoe opening is lengthened, enabling the user to insert foot toe area well into the shoe and press foot heel down on the upper part of the heel guide so that the foot heel slides forward and down along the heel guide while the bridge of the foot slides forward under the slippery flap under the shoe tongue until the shoe, already adequately tied, is donned, and the user pulling up on the staff pulls heel guide, tongue grab and slippery flap clear of the donned shoe. 